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Hades Project Zeorymer

Entry updated 8 July 2024. Tagged: TV.

Japanese Original Video Animation (OVA) series (1988-1990; vt Meiou Project Zeorymer; vt Project Zeorymer; vt Zeoraima – Project Hades). AIC and Artmic. Based on the Manga of the same name by Yoshiki Takaya (writing as Chimi Morio). Directed by Toshihiro Hirano. Written by Shō Aikawa. Voice cast includes Chieko Honda, Toshihiko Seki and Mayumi Shou. Four episodes of circa 28 minutes. Colour.

In 1984 plans by the organization Tekkoryu ("Iron Dragon") for world domination are put on hold when their top Scientist, Misaki Kihara (Seki), steals Zeorymer of the Heavens, the most powerful of the eight Mecha they had built – also taking with him a zygote whose genes are the only ones Zeorymer will recognize as a pilot. The intended pilot had been Yuratei (Shou), then a child: now – fifteen years later and the head of Tekkoryu – she declares they are ready to conquer the world (see Imperialism). The first step being to capture or destroy Zeorymer.

Meanwhile, when they take their money and depart, 15-year-old Masato Akitsu (Seki) discovers his parents had been actors playing a role; he is then thrown in a cell. Misaki had fled to the Japanese Government, who now holds Zeorymer, and mild-mannered Masato is the grown zygote. His trauma is exacerbated by a government's agent trying to provoke his aggressive instincts; then, after being introduced to his co-pilot Miku Himura (Honda), a self-aware Android that boosts the mecha's capabilities, he sits in Zeorymer and the device syncs up with him. Subsequently confronted by the Tekkoryu mecha sent after him, Masato is initially bemused, but suddenly becomes aggressive and fluent in the use of Zeorymer, destroying his attacker. As that had been piloted by Yuratei's lover, she is not best pleased.

The Tekkotyu mecha have different Weapon capabilities – for example, one is able to activate the Earth's magma layer, another has a nuclear disintegrator cannon, a third has 500 missiles. Over the next two OVAs Zeorymer battles and defeats three of them. Masato develops a split personality, one his original, decent self and the other an unpleasant bully; Misaki had rightly believed that the Japanese Government would eventually murder him, to be followed by a showdown with Tekkoryu – so he arranged to have clones in both camps. Masato is one: when he first used Zeorymer a copy of Misaki's personality had been downloaded into him (see Identity Transfer). We also learn more about Yuratei and the other Tekkoryu pilots – the latter having been created by Misaki, with each "given a neurosis while in vitro": for one of the male pilots, this involved having a woman's face. Yuratei wonders why the urge to control or destroy the world causes her pain, "as though the desire wasn't really my own".

In the final OVA the surviving Tekkoryu mecha start a wave of destruction in Japan, expecting Zeorymer to intervene – but Misaki in Masato has no interest in doing so. So the trio of pilots decide to attack Zeorymer simultaneously. But as they confront him they begin bickering – which irritates Misaki in Masato, who is having his own problems, being unable to repress Masato's personality (see Identity): after angrily explaining they are all his clones, aspects of the same personality, he destroys the three mecha – apparently using Zeorymer's "dimensional coupler system, capable of tapping limitless energy from contiguous Dimensions". As he does so, he clutches his head, as if in pain. Shortly after Masato announces he is not Masato nor Misaki: neither controls him anymore (his assimilated self is essentially a self-confident Masato). Meanwhile, back at the Tekkoryu fortress, Yuratei – also a Misaki clone – will not press a button to destroy the world, as she has learnt her ambitions were implanted by Misaki. She calls Masato to her: not for a final confrontation, but for mutual destruction through his dimensional coupler system, taking out both the fortress and Zeorymer.

Hades Project Zeorymer tries to cram too much into its short run time: the story and plot coherence suffer and the ending is badly rushed. Overall this Anime, with nine clones of the same person, needed much more time to develop the themes of identity it is clearly interested in (most of the clones have sympathetic qualities); but as it is, the characterization is blunt. The mecha battles and other animation are adequate, though – aside from the Tekkoryu fortress – nothing really stays in the memory. The source material had originally been serialized in a hentai (see Sex) manga: for the anime the pornographic element has been removed, save for some Fan Service, along with other changes to the plot. Hirano (as director and writer) had done the same, but better, in an earlier OVA, Iczer One (1985-1987). [SP]

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